Glimpses
by sableambiguity
Summary: Sometimes love is unseen. Sometimes we catch glimpses. -a Zutara 50sentence challenge-
1. oo1 to o1o

A/N: Non-linear, rated T at the most, if they don't make sense feel free to tell me, etc. etc. Enjoy. ;3

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**#01 – Motion**

Still waters run deep and though she sits quietly by the turtleduck pond on some of the best days in his memory, he finds her most beautiful when she's the ocean during a storm.

**#02 – Cool**

She never thought her hands were cold—until he was the one holding them.

**#03 – Young**

"When I was younger…" rarely preludes a good story, but without it she wouldn't have known he was a child at all.

**#04 – Last**

He was the last to hug her, the last to kiss her, the last one anyone expected to do either; she has but to look at him and he knows he's first in everything to her now.

**#05 – Wrong**

With how perfectly she fits at his side – hip to hip – it never occurs to her that it could be wrong to be there.

**#06 – Gentle**

His touch is always gentle despite her reassurances that he's forgiven for harboring hatred in his heart the first time he met her; after all, the feeling was mutual.

**#07 – One**

She'll never forget the day she caught him out of the air because she hesitated for one second, one second filled with flashbacks to black snow and raging fire—the only second of her life that she regrets.

**#08 – Thousand**

They tell her the people will love her – accept her – but she knows even the Avatar nor the Fire Lord can read the minds and hearts of that many.

**#09 – King**

The first thing she learns is to never defy him while he wears his crown; the second, how to remove it the moment they're out of sight.

**#10 – Learn**

Some nights that scar still burns—but cool fingertips are able to ease an ache that salve never could.


	2. o11 to o2o

**#11 – Blur**

In the scariest seconds of his life she was there, blue on her hands, in her eyes, and looking back now he'd never know where healing ended and love began.

**#12 – Wait**

Waiting for him to return is like holding her breath before plunging into the ocean—but drowning in his kisses is far more satisfying than submerging herself in her element ever could be.

**#13 – Change**

Her belly swells, her temper shortens, her mood worsens, but bright blue eyes never lose their luster; underneath it all, she's the same woman he fell in love with all those years ago.

**#14 – Command**

The paper crumples and burns in his palm, and the scribe quakes in his boots when eyes like molten fire issue an unspoken threat to match his verbal command: "Never 'forget' to write Fire Lady in front of her name again."

**#15 – Hold**

He could give her the world but he loves her all the more for wanting nothing but his fingers laced with hers.

**#16 – Need**

It's gone so far past want – and was always far past lust – that it's pure need tangling the bedsheets every night.

**#17 – Vision**

She ignores the dirty looks the seamstress gives her when she demands to be outfitted in blue; the look in his eyes when he first sees her gown is proof she picked her battle well.

**#18 – Attention**

Many Fire Ladies in the past could command a room with a look or a word, but she is the first to do it with a smile.

**#19 – Soul**

When she asks him what he wants most in the world, the answer slips past without a thought—that he wants to remind the world his people have a soul.

**#20 – Picture**

It's cruel, she knows, but she just can't help telling her brother that Zuko's been a very good teacher; Sokka should have known better than to tease her about needing a diagram for _that_.


	3. o21 to o3o

**#21 – Fool**

Even the blind earthbender can see the way he watches Katara move, feel how their hugs last just a bit longer each time—and Mai has never been a fool, except for him.

**#22 – Mad**

Too much water on a fire and it sputters and fails; but a few precious drops during a raging inferno are the difference between life and death.

**#23 – Child**

Only when the Avatar walks away, head hung, spirits flagging, heartache in every step, does she see shades of the man he will be someday—for when he's high in the sky on his glider, he's merely a child at play.

**#24 – Now**

Come dawn he'll be the king of a hateful country and she the daughter of a war-torn tribe, but while the palace sleeps they can be friends, confidantes, lovers, free to indulge in the fantasy that there's a place for them outside the here and now.

**#25 – Shadow**

He tells her he feels the eyes of his people – watching and judging – and her next order of business is to demand the removal of the portraits from the great hall; it's no longer their legacy, but his.

**#26 – Goodbye**

After his mother left, he's never been good at saying goodbye; lucky for him, neither is she.

**#27 – Hide**

The day she told him she refused to be kept a secret was the day he started to believe Fire Lords could have happy endings.

**#28 – Fortune**

Their family has always been rich in love, her grandmother tells him, and as long as he keeps that tradition, he won't get skinned alive.

**#29 – Safe**

Once upon a time the smell of smoke could fill her with dread; every morning she wakes with a firebender wrapped around her, she feels nothing but comfort and love.

**#30 – Ghost**

Telling scary stories around the campfire hadn't been a good idea from the start—but his opinion changed when she came to him at midnight, asking to cuddle close against the looming shadows and monsters in the night.


	4. o31 to o4o

**#31 – Book**

He's never been happier to be caught red-handed with her diary in his hands—because when he read those three little words written about him, it almost caught fire.

**#32 – Eye**

Somehow she always knows when he's rolling his eyes behind her back, and he can't help but wonder if she's hiding something in that unruly mane of hers.

**#33 – Never**

Every time she asks him when he'll realize she's not worth the trouble, she already knows the answer.

**#34 – Sing**

The vacant lullabies of his farthest memories never sounded as sweet as those she hums over their children when she thinks no one's listening.

**#35 – Sudden**

She always thought falling in love was like a breakthrough, an epiphany—but instead it was there all along, tucked in the slow, rarely-seen smile of a boy with golden eyes warmer than the sun itself.

**#36 – Stop**

It's his last word but she can't, not when his hands are in her shirt and his lips are at her ear; she _can't._

**#37 – Time**

At first she felt cheated but soon realized she needed a few lonely years or she never would have braved a chance with love—not with him.

**#38 – Wash**

Every time she cries, it rains; he half-wonders if she really is a witch, that she can wash the very earth with her tears.

**#39 – Torn**

Two homes, two lives, two futures—but the first time she leaves her necklace on the nightstand so his kisses can claim her throat, she's made her choice.

**#40 – History**

They tell them it's never been done before; they forget they're both the kind of people that revel in being first.


	5. o41 to o5o

**#41 – Power**

Perhaps it's for the best he chose a waterbender to stand by his side; she can save him before he drowns.

**#42 – Bother**

Her complaints get louder and louder with each passing day but he takes them in stride, keeping the secret that her lips tell a different story when they're pressed to his after night falls.

**#43 – God**

It's hard to remember he doesn't put much stock in religion when she looks the part of a goddess splayed on his crimson sheets.

**#44 – Wall**

Despite his strict rules about keeping everything 'behind closed doors,' she has but to smile and his resolve crumbles.

**#45 – Naked**

The blush she wears when he's the first – and only – man to ever peel away the last layer and drink in the sight is a more precious gift than anything else he'll take before the night is through.

**#46 – Drive**

He tried at first – a pathetic attempt at protecting her or him or both – but it didn't take long to realize she'd never let him drive her away.

**#47 – Harm**

She loves him more because he'd die to protect her, while knowing full well she can protect herself.

**#48 – Precious**

Three little words make him feel richer than any king in the history of the world.

**#49 – Hunger**

When he discovered her affinity, he thought it was childishly endearing; now they share it, for her kisses taste indelibly like strawberries even when they're not in season.

**#50 – Believe**

As he twirls a strand of her hair in his fingers one night he dares to ask why and she tells him—because he taught her the power of forgiveness, the price of hatred, and the freedom of hope.

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**A/N:** Thank you for taking this journey with me! The reviews I already received have touched my heart--I'd love to hear any thoughts from all my readers. :)


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